Healing Light
by Element's Sole Protector
Summary: The thoughts of those who have saved Sora, from Pluto to Riku.
1. Pluto

Come on, now. I own only three out of seven games, now. I don't own this series in the slightest… but I'm happy to say I've introduced **gregthehamster** to the wonders of Kingdom Hearts II. You take the small victories, you know.

Quotes from the games will be throughout. Bet you can recognize them.

Thank you, King Mickey, for the Reaction Command which gave me this idea.

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><p>~<em>Healing Light<em>~

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><p><em>Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff.<em>

His master _had_ to be around here somewhere. No matter what, Pluto would find him and stay by his side until it was time for them to go home.

For now, though, he trotted by Donald and Goofy's sides and moved his nose from left to right on the ground and in the air. _Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff_. He heard Goofy say something about a star going out, but paid it little mind; he'd seen it happening, slowly but surely, for years. He heard Donald ask where in the world the "key" could possibly be, and lifted one ear—_that_ gave him an idea.

He would use his nose to find his master's key. There was no trace of his master's scent yet—but the Key always left a trail. Find the key, find the master.

_Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff_. Oh dear. This was a problem. Pluto _could_ smell the key, very close by, but to follow it he would have to split off from Donald and Goofy, who were heading aimlessly _away_ from his master. He paused, cocking his head, and then trotted on, sniffing all the while. He had made his choice—he would catch up with them later, if possible. After all, with all the noise they made they would be easy to find.

His master came first.

_Sniff-sniff-sniff-sniff_.

Pluto rounded the corner and trotted into an alley, nose close to the bricks. It didn't take long before he found the key, or its scent anyway, attached to his mast…

His tail stopped wagging briefly.

Wait a moment.

Spiky brown hair. Long, girlish eyelashes. Bright red clothes and large yellow shoes, like his master's. Somewhere, a key—also like his master's. But this _young boy_ was _not_ his master.

Pluto's ears drooped. And he thought he had been so close. Once he sniffed the boy a bit, though, he could tell that the scent of _his_ key was not the same scent as that of his master's key.

Still…

Curiosity came over him. Who _was_ this boy who possessed a different-smelling key and was sleeping alone in a dark alley? And (Pluto's hackles rose) why rest _here_, when a deeply unpleasant scent was nearby?

The boy's smell, while unfamiliar to the dog, was nice—salty, like he spent a lot of time in or near the ocean. Pluto decided to wake him. First, he licked the boy's face—the boy smiled unconsciously, then groaned. His eyes opened—blue—and blinked sleepily before noticing Pluto.

"Huh…? What a dream…"

Oh, there would be none of that. It was much too dangerous to leave a boy sleeping out in the open. Pluto reared up on his hind legs and, tail wagging again, landed heavily on this blue-eyed boy with his front legs.

He shot up like he'd been launched from a spring.

"WHOA! …This _isn't_ a dream!"

The unfocused, sleepy look was gone from his eyes. Good.

The boy glanced around the alley, looked up at the shops and houses, and in the direction of the light. His expression melted into uncertainty.

"Where am I? …Oh, boy."

Pluto sat, wagging away. A brief rest with another key holder sounded nice.

The boy—_Sora_, Pluto later learned—seemed to suddenly notice him again: he bent over, hands on knees, flashing the dog a big grin to show his harmlessness. He cocked his head of brown spikes at his rescuer. "Do _you_ know where we are?"

Out of nowhere, Pluto lifted one ear: faintly he heard the calls of his master's friends, who had noticed that he was missing.

"Pluto? Pluto!"

"Pluto, come on! Here, boy!"

Excitement rippled through the dog. Perhaps they'd found his master?

He looked again to the boy, tail slowing its wagging. It looked like he wouldn't be resting here after all. Turning quickly, he shot off, ignoring the boy's stunned shout from behind.

Pluto was later glad to have saved the boy from the shadows—especially when his master rubbed his ears for it later, and gave him a treat.


	2. Leon and Yuffie

Thank you all so much for your positive reviews! Contrary to what this almost-year-later update may imply, I really did appreciate them. And now that I finally found the folder which housed this precious baby and _White Chocolate With Strawberries_ and _Bonds_, I can update to my heart's content.

**Explanation:** Leon and Yuffie technically rescued Sora from the Heartless by not leaving him out in the street. (Although that would have been funny.) They rescued him again at the hotel (sort of), but imagination only carries me so far. Also, I said that Sora won but used the losing dialogue because… well… yes, I've _won_ against Leon, but the winning dialogue makes more sense because Sora _still passes out_. The wimp. Riku wouldn't have… forget it.

I own nothing. Let's get this show on the road, shall we?

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><p>~<em>Healing Light<em>~

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><p>Leon still couldn't quite believe his eyes.<p>

The brown-haired kid lying sprawled in the walkway had a _key_. _The_ key. This scrawny, short kid in bright clothes had one of the most important weapons in the world lying beside him. And he had _beaten Leon senseless with it_ before passing out.

_Impossible_.

But he had the scratches and tears in his new attire to prove it. And now he was thoroughly pissed off.

Of all the ridiculous… why had the Keyblade chosen this _runt_ over someone like him? Someone older, stronger, _wiser_? It made _no sense_!

_It makes _plenty_ of sense,_ his more cynical side thought. _The Keyblade knew of your secret, of your shame. Your failure to protect your world and its people. And nothing you've done here has made that any better. _That's_ why it went and found this inexperienced kid._

Leon sighed and rubbed his brown hair. To be fair, he _had_ been a little more talented than he appeared to be at first, for a boy. What in the world could he represent, anyway?

_Try purity. Innocence._

In that case, even Traverse Town was hardly safe for him.

Someone moved behind him. Already battle-wary, his gloved hand twitched toward his gunblade—

An all-too-cheerful voice sang out. "I think you may have overdone it, Squall."

He flinched. His true name—_that_ name—brought back too many faces, too many memories he didn't want to recall. "That's Leon."

Yuffie hummed, grinning slyly. _She already knew, of course. She was just doing it to rile me up._ She moved around him to look at the boy, her eyes going wide when she saw his Keyblade vanish.

Leon sighed again. "It looks like things are worse than we thought," he told his junior partner. "A _lot_ worse."

He didn't tell Yuffie that the kid had beaten him; he simply scooped the kid up and headed for the Second District, and she followed like a shadow.

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><p>Yuffie scanned the streets expertly for any sign of trouble. Nothing.<p>

_Poor kid._

Her gray gaze wandered to the spiky-haired kid, dangled over Squall's—_Leon's_—shoulder as he moved swiftly up the street. Leon carried him like he would a sack of potatoes, and Yuffie felt a stab of pity at the headache the kid would probably have later. Squall—_Leon_—was being unnecessarily rough with him, which wasn't fair. Yuffie doubted that anyone _but_ Leon wanted the burden of wielding a Keyblade—certainly not this one boy. She'd watched his face as he fought Leon, and on it she saw fear, uncertainty and dread. Hardly the emotions of one who felt he had a _right_ to such an odd weapon.

Wordlessly, she snuck up on Leon—successfully this time—and plucked the boy out of his (hardly firm) grip. He whirled, and lifted both brown eyebrows, but by then the Keybearer's head was already resting on Yuffie's shoulder, and Yuffie herself was sticking her tongue out at the older man.

The message was clear: I'll_ hold him, you meanie._

"Hmmph," Leon grunted. But he put his newly-freed hands in his pockets and strolled on into the hotel without protest.

"_I'll_ be waiting for you to wake up, then," Yuffie told her unconscious companion. "You'll be okay, now."

At least, she hoped so. Leon could be rather harsh sometimes.

At any rate, it would be beneficial if she took the boy to see Aerith. If anyone could fix him up, she could…


End file.
